The Victim
by steampunkqueen2489
Summary: The Cartwrights find something while patrolling their land. But, what they find is definitely not what they expected.
1. Chapter 1

-Part 1-

The Cartwrights and and Abbie were riding around the land of the Ponderosa, something they did on a regular basis to watch for intruders who often trespassed on the land. They were just about to head back to the ranch-house when they saw something laying on the ground in the distance. It was too far away for them to see what it was.

"What is that out there, pa?" Hoss asked.

"I don't know, Hoss. We'd better go find out." Ben said, and they rode off in that direction. Once they got near enough, they could see clearly that it was a person, a petite young woman with blonde hair. She was wearing a white dress with purple flowers on it, and her hair was worn put up. She was clearly unconscious, lying on the ground.

"Well, I'll be." Hoss said.

"What in the...? Where did she come from?" Abbie said. Hoss and Ben got down off of their horses to check the woman for a pulse.

"She's alive." Ben said.

"That's all we need, somebody dying on your property. Enough people have it out for you as it is." Abbie said. Hoss picked the unconscious woman up and lay her gently across his horse. Then, he and Ben got up onto their horses, and the group rode quickly back to the ranch-house. They put the young woman in one of the guest rooms and waited downstairs for her to wake up.

"Who do you think she is, pa?" Hoss said.

"I don't know, Hoss." Ben said.

"What do you think she's doing on the Ponderosa?" Abbie asked.

"Well, we won't know anything until she wakes up." Ben said.

The young woman awoke to find herself in an unfamiliar room. Her first thought was that maybe she had been kidnapped, but she quickly dismissed that idea as she realized was that she was laying in a bed, and that she wasn't restrained in any way. She sat up, looking around the room. It was a nice room, plain, but definitely nice. She sat up, slowly getting out of bed. She may not have been kidnapped, but she was still in a strange place. The smart thing to do would be to be careful, and that was exactly what she planned to do. She walked out into the hallway and to the top of a staircase, from where she could hear voices below. She slowly walked down the stairs, which ended in a sitting area with a group of people, who all turned to look at her when she entered the room. Sitting at a small table were two men playing checkers, one of them young with dark wavy hair, the other a husky man, balding with bright blue eyes. In a chair was an older man, the oldest of the group definitely, with grey hair and brown eyes. On the couch was a dark-haired man with blue-grey eyes, older than the two at the table, but still significantly younger than the gray-haired man. On the couch, next to this man was a young woman with blonde wavy hair and grey eyes.

"Well, look who's awake." said the young, dairk-haired man at the table. He smiled brightly as he spoke. The older, gray-haired man stood from his chair and approached her.

"It's alright." he said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder, "You're safe here." Something about the way the man spoke to her told her to trust him. He seemed to be speaking sincerely.

"Here. Come sit down." he said, gently leading her over to a chair and setting her down. She looked around the room, wide-eyed at the group of strangers.

"It's alright." the husky man said, "Ain't nobody gonna hurt you." His blue eyes were so bright she could swear they actually sparkled, and, though he had a deep voice, he spoke so gently to her. She decided that these people couldn't possibly be enemies. In fact, it seemed like these people had rescued her. She took a deep breath, calming herself.

"Can you tell us your name?" the gray-haired man asked.

"My name is Sarah. Sarah Collins." she said softly.

"Sarah. My name is Ben Cartwright. These are my sons, Adam, Joe, and Hoss. And that's Adam's fiancee, Abbie." the older, gray-haired man, apparently named Ben, introduced. Little Joe was the youngest-looking one with the dark, wavy hair who was sitting at the table. Hoss was the husky man with the bright blue eyes who was sitting at the table with him. They were the two who had been playing checkers when she had entered the room. Adam was the oldest looking of the three sons with dark hair and blue-grey eyes who was sitting on the couch with the blonde woman, who was, obviously, his fiancee, Abbie.

"Mr. Cartwright, where am I?" Sarah asked.

"You're on the Ponderosa. It's the ranch my boys and I own." Ben said.

"I'm in Nevada, then?" she asked.

"Yes, that's right." Ben answered.

"Why? Where did you come from before?" Abbie asked.

"San Francisco." she answered. Everyone looked at her in surprise.

"San Francisco?" Little Joe said.

"Then, how did you get here?" Abbie asked.

"Well, she didn't walk all that way. That's not possible." Adam finally spoke up.

"No, I didn't walk. My family and I came here from San Francisco by wagon." she said, "But..."

"Where's your family now?" Joe asked. Sarah took a deep breath, then began to speak.

"My father was a doctor. But, he wanted to come out here, to Nevada to mine for silver. That was the idea, anyway." she said, "So, we packed up everything on a wagon and left. I didn't want to leave. I was learning from my father. I was his apprentice. But, he got the idea that we could strike it rich, so we packed up everything and left. For a long time, everything went fine. But, then... We came across some men on the trail, two men. Or, I should say, they came across us. The men tried to rob us. We told them we'd give them anything they want, to please just let us go, but... but, the men told us that they couldn't let us live because we'd seen their faces. They... they killed my parents. I just ran... I was so scared and I just ran and didn't look back. I ran for so long. I didn't even know where I was. Finally, I just couldn't run anymore. That's all I remember. Everything just went black after that." She buried her face in her hands and began crying. By this time, Hoss had walked over to stand beside her and Ben.

"I'm sorry." she sobbed.

"Now, you've got nothin' to be sorry about." Hoss said, placing his large hand gently on her back.

"Hoss is right. You've done nothing wrong. If you need to cry, cry. It's completely understandable after what you've been through." Ben said.

"Thank you." she said. After a few minutes, she finally calmed herself and the tears stopped.

"Sarah, you can stay here for as long as you need to." Ben said. She looked up at him, her blue eyes wide.

"Are you sure that would be alright? I don't want to be a burden to anyone." she said.

"Of course it would be alright." Ben said, "You'll be safe here."

"You saved my life. And, now, you're offering me a place to stay. I guess I'm really in no place to refuse, am I?" she said, smiling, just slightly. It was the first time they'd seen her smile since she'd arrived.

"But, how will I ever repay you?" she asked.

"There's no need to repay us." Ben said, smiling.

"But, you're being so generous." she said.

"It's fine." Ben said, laughing slightly, "Hoss, will you show her to one of the guest rooms, please."

"Alright, pa. Come on, Miss Sarah." Hoss said. He led Sarah up the stairs and down the hall to a room. It was the room that she had been in when she first woke up there.

"Thank you, Hoss. You and your family are being so kind to me. I don't know how to thank you." she said.

"Now, don't you worry about that, Miss Sarah. You just let me know if you need anything." Hoss said. Sarah smiled.

"Alright." she said, "And, Hoss. Just Sarah. Please." She smiled gently at him, and he felt his heart skip a beat.

"Alright... Sarah." he said after a moment. She smiled as she watched him leave the room.


	2. Chapter 2

-Part 2-

"Sarah, Hoss and I were just talking about you." Ben said a couple of days later when Sarah sat down at the table with them for breakfast.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" Sarah asked.

"No. Nothing like that." Ben said, laughing slightly. Sarah sighed in relief.

"Oh." she said, "What is it then?"

"I was just thinkin' on maybe teachin' you to ride a horse. I mean, if you want to learn." Hoss said.

"Wow. I'd like that. I love horses, but I've never ridden one. Is it hard to learn?" Sarah said, smiling.

"No way. It's easy enough even Hoss was able to learn." Joe said. Sarah frowned.

"No, Hoss is plenty smart. He's just smart about different things than most people." she said.

"Nah, Sarah, Little Joe's right. I ain't exactly the brainy one in the family." Hoss said.

"Hoss, you shouldn't say such things about yourself." Sarah said, smiling, her clear blue eyes fixed on him.

"Well... Thank you, Sarah. That's mighty fine of you to say." Hoss said, a small smile crossing his face.

"You should take her outside after breakfast and give her some lessons." Joe said.

"Now, dad burn it, Little Joe, don't you get carried away. I'll teach her when she's ready, and she didn't say she was yet." Hoss said.

"After breakfast sounds fine to me." Sarah said.

"What? You sure about that?" Hoss asked. Sarah nodded.

"Yes. I trust you, all of you, and I trust your judgement. If you all think it's alright, then it probably is." Sarah said.

"I don't know. With the rest of us, you should be alright, but trusting Little Joe's judgement could get you killed." Abbie said. Adam, who was sitting next to her, grinned.

After breakfast, Hoss led Sarah out to the barn. He led her over to a stall where there was a beautiful palomino horse with a white stripe down the front of it's face.

"What a beautiful horse." Sarah said.

"Sarah, me and pa were talkin', and we want you to have this horse when you learn to ride." Hoss said.

"You... want me to have it? You mean, it's mine?" she asked, looking from Hoss to the horse and back again. Hoss nodded.

"Once you learn to ride, she's yours." he said.

"But, that's so generous... I couldn't..." Sarah said.

"Now, Sarah, we already decided. Pa won't take no for an answer. And, neither will I." Hoss said.

"Thank you so much." Sarah finally said.

"It's nothin'." Hoss said, smiling, "So, you'd better give her a name."

"Hmm." Sarah said, looking at the horse for a moment as she gently petted it's head, "I think... Juniper. She just looks like a Juniper to me."

"I think that's a mighty fine name, Sarah." Hoss said. He petted the horse's head, his hand accidentally falling on top of Sarah's. Noticing this, they stopped and stared at each other for a moment before both pulling their hands away. They both looked away for a moment, embarrassed before Hoss finally cleared his throat and said, "Well... we better get her saddled up."

"Yeah." Sarah said quietly. They saddled up the horse, Juniper, and led it out of the barn to a small open area. Sarah patted Juniper on the head again before Hoss helped her get up onto it's back. After a few moments, Adam and Abbie walked over to them, leaning on a nearby fence as they watched.

"How's she doing?" Abbie asked.

"She's doin' real well. She has a real way with animals." Hoss said.

"I've always loved animals." Sarah said. Just then, Little Joe walked over to them.

"Hey, how's it coming?" he asked, leaning on the fence with Adam and Abbie.

"She's doing better than I did." Abbie said, "On my first time on the horse, I got thrown off."

"You didn't get hurt, did you?" Sarah asked, her blue eyes wide.

"No." Abbie said, "Luckily, Adam was there to catch me." She squeezed Adam's hand and he smiled slightly.

"Maybe if I'd have caught you you would've ended up fallin' for me instead of Adam." Joe said.

"I don't think there was any danger of that." Abbie said.

"Sarcasm. One of Abbie's many talents." Joe said sarcastically.

"That's my girl." Adam said. Sarah and Hoss laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

-Part 3-

A couple of days later, The men had ridden into Virginia City to run some errands, leaving Sarah and Abbie alone back at the ranch-house. She had come to like Abbie over the time she had been on the Ponderosa. It was nice to have another woman there to talk to among all of the guys, and Abbie had sort of become like a sister to her. And, Abbie, having a younger sister herself, had taken a liking to the slightly younger Sarah as well. They were talking casually amongst themselves when Abbie heard someone riding up to the house from a distance. She stood up and approached the window.

"Abbie, what is it?" Sarah asked.

"There's someone riding up." Abbie said, looking out the window.

"Maybe Hoss and the others are back." Sarah said.

"No. It's not them." Abbie said as the men rode closer.

Abbie walked quickly away from the window and over to Sarah.

"Sarah, get out of here. Hide." she told her.

"Abbie, what are you going to do?" Sarah asked.

"Sarah, go." Abbie told her. Just then, the door was kicked in and two men walked in.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Abbie asked.

"Well, what do we have here? Aren't you a pretty thing? I'm Larry and this is Tim." said one of the men, apparently named Larry.

"Do you two know where you are? This is the Ponderosa." Abbie said.

"We know that." said the other man, Tim.

"Alright. Then, what's your business here?" Abbie asked.

"We're looking for someone." Larry said.

"And, by the looks of it, we found her." Tim said, looking at Sarah. Abbie followed Tim's gaze, looking at Sarah, who was standing there, pale as a ghost, her blue eyes wide.

"Sarah? What is it?" Abbie asked. Sarah didn't answer. She just stared at the men.

"What do you want with Sarah?" Abbie asked. The men just laughed.

"Abbie... those... those are the men who killed my parents." Sarah said quietly.

"She's right." Larry said, "She saw our faces. We can't let her live." The men approached them.

"Stay away from us." Abbie said, putting her arm out in front of Sarah in a protective manner.

"Please don't. I won't say anything, I swear." Sarah said.

"I don't think so." Larry said, grabbing hold of Sarah. Tim grabbed hold of Abbie.

"No! Please!" Sarah said.

"Don't you touch her!" Abbie said, "Let me go! Let me go right now!"

"Maybe we'll have some fun with you two before we kill you." Larry said.

"Leave her alone. Please. She has nothing to do with this." Sarah said. Just then, Ben walked in the front door, gun drawn.

"Let those women go." Ben said.

"There's only one of you and two of us. You may get one of us, but the other one of us will get you." Larry said as he and Tim drew their guns. Little Joe walked up behind Ben.

"You better put those guns down. It's two on two now." he said.

"Do you really want to take the chance on hitting one of these women instead of us?" Tim said. He and Larry held the women in front of them.

"Or maybe we'll just shoot these women right now if you don't put your guns down." Larry said, holding the gun to Sarah's head.

"Alright. Alright." Ben said, laying down his gun. After a moment of hesitation, Joe did the same. Hoss and Adam, meanwhile, came in through the kitchen and snuck up behind the men, hitting them, knocking them out cold. The two men fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Adam." Abbie said, turning around to face him.

"Abbie, are you alright? Did they do anything to you?" Adam asked, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm alright, Adam. But, Sarah..." Abbie started to say as Sarah, clearly upset, walked quickly out of the house.

"Those are the men that killed Sarah's parents." Abbie said.

"I'll go talk to her." Hoss said, following Sarah outside.

"Joe and I will take these two men to the sheriff. Adam, you stay here with Abbie." Ben said. Ben and Joe draped the men over their horses and rode off to Virginia City.

"Abbie, are you sure you're alright?" Adam said, brushing a few strands of Abbie's blonde hair away from her face.

"Yes." Abbie said, smiling, "I'm fine, Adam."

"Good." Adam said, kissing her.

"I'm glad you're alright." Adam said after they broke the kiss, hugging her tightly.

Hoss followed Sarah outside. She wasn't sure exactly what she doing, she was just so upset wanted to be by herself.

"Hey! Sarah!"

She could hear Hoss calling after her. She looked quickly behind her and continued walking. She didn't want to see anyone right now.

"Sarah! Wait!" Hoss yelled. She continued walking. Hoss was faster than her, however, and was quickly able to catch up with her. He gently grabbed her shoulder.

"Now, Sarah, just what do you think you're doin'?" he asked. Sarah stopped, standing completely still, her shoulders drooped.

"I... I don't know." she said quietly.

"Sarah, I know you're upset, and, dad burn it, I don't blame you." Hoss said, "But, if there's anything I can do... I want to help you." Sarah turned around to face him. Her eyes were moist. He could tell she had been crying.

"Hoss, those were the men that killed my parents. They were going to kill me, too." she said.

"It's alright, Sarah." Hoss said, placing hand on her shoulder, "Those men aren't gonna be botherin' you anymore."

"I know... it's just... seeing them again..." she said.

"It must have been mighty hard for you, Sarah." Hoss said, "Don't you worry. Those men ain't gonna hurt you. Pa and Little Joe done took them off to jail. You don't gotta worry about them no more."

"It's... it's not just that. They would have killed Abbie, too, and all of you. I put you all in danger. It was so selfish of me. How could I think they wouldn't try to find me?" Sarah said.

"Now, Sarah, ain't none of that's your fault, you hear me? None of us blame you. All that's important is you're alright." Hoss said.

"Oh, Hoss." she said. She started crying, wrapping her arms around Hoss, her face buried in his chest.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Sarah sobbed. Hoss put his strong arms around her, trying to comfort her.

"It's alright, Sarah. If you need to cry, just cry." he said gently. After a few moments, she stopped crying, and was able to calm herself. Hoss slowly let go of her, andshe stood there, her blue eyes fixed on him.

"Now, there, see, don't you feel just a little bit better now?" Hoss asked, smiling at her.

"I feel much better now. Thanks to you, Hoss." she said, finally smiling.

"Aw, I didn't do nothin' special." Hoss said.

"Don't say that, Hoss. You are the sweetest, gentlest person I know." she said. Hoss just smiled, looking to the ground for a moment. Sarah looked at him for a moment, then leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Hoss just stood, staring at her, his blue eyes wide, his mouth hanging open in surprise. Sarah smiled, a slighy flush on her cheeks as she twirled a few strands of her blonde hair around her finger.

"No, that's not quite right. This is what I wanted to do." she said, leaning in and kissing him on the lips.

"Hoss, since I came here, you've always been there for me." she said when the broke the kiss, "You are the kindest person I've ever met."

"Sarah, you're real important to me." Hoss said, "If anything would've happened to you... I don't know what I'd have done."

"It means a lot to hear you say that. Hoss, I... I think I'm in love with you." Sarah said.

"I think I feel the same way about you, Sarah." Hoss said.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that." she said, smiling. Hoss leaned in and kissed her. When they broke the kiss, she hugged him tightly, wrapping her thin arms around his strong neck. She felt so safe wrapped in Hoss' s strong arms. When they pulled away, they stood looking at each other for a moment before walking back to the ranch-house.


End file.
